Opening credits

Opening credits at the beginning of films identify all the main people involved with the making of the film including actors, directors, producers and other main crew members. However the decline of TV movies after 1964 and the increasingly short "shelf-life" of films in cinemas has largely contributed to the vast majority of cast and crew information being displayed at the end of the movie rather than at the start. Some credits in movies and television are shown during a teaser or 'cold open' which is a brief scene before the main act starts; it helps to prepare the audience. A cold open (also known as a teaser) in a television program or movie is the technique of jumping directly into a story at the beginning or opening of the show.